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January 8, 2006
Verdicts are in, even before Alito hearings begin
By Dana Milbank
The Washington Post
January 8, 2006
Do not be surprised if, at some point during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, a trumpet blast is sounded in the hearing room, winged angels descend, and Democrats on the Judiciary Committee turn into pillars of salt.
This undoubtedly would be the wish of the Rev. Rob Schenck, president of the National Clergy Council.
He held a news conference Thursday outside the Hart Office Building to announce that he would "consecrate Room 216 Hart" -- the hearing room -- in hopes of having, in the sacred words of Fox News, "a fair and balanced hearing."
"By dedicating it to God, we look to God to orchestrate and direct the activities that take place at that location," Schenck, who provided similar blessings for John Roberts' confirmation, explained to the TV cameras.
It's unclear if this would violate Senate rules, which give Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., sole authority to direct activities in the hearing room.
With days to go until Alito's confirmation hearings, the rush to judgment was in the home stretch Thursday.
The day began with a gathering of groups, including Law Students Against Alito. An hour later at the National Press Club, a group of Women Against Alito crashed a meeting of Women for Alito and heckled the participants with chants of "Women will die!"
While that fracas ensued, a group of Law Professors Against Alito was meeting down the hall.
Pat Robertson set the tone for the week when he said on Tuesday that God had told him Alito would be confirmed and another justice -- a liberal! -- will retire this year.
"The president is going to strengthen, and Alito is going to get confirmed," Robertson prophesied, provoking the liberal Americans United group to wonder if Robertson "is confusing his wish list for God's will."
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060108/NEWS06/601080453/1012
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US Jews weigh in ahead of Alito hearings
MATTHEW E. BERGER / JTA, THE JERUSALEM POST Jan. 7, 2006
Amid the Hanukka parties and the New Year festivities, the organized Jewish community has been gearing up to make itself heard on the next nominee for the US Supreme Court.
Several Jewish organizations already have spoken out against Judge Samuel Alito Jr., who will go before the Senate Judiciary Committee for confirmation hearings this week. Those groups and others are pushing key lawmakers to ask pointed questions about Alito's record on abortion and the separation of church and state.
The goal is to prevent the feeling many in Washington had last year about the nomination of Chief Justice John Roberts - that it was a fait accompli.
Alito is considered a more controversial jurist, with a longer record that has raised concerns among liberal groups, including the National Council of Jewish Women and the Union for Reform Judaism. Both organizations, who announced their opposition to Alito last year, are getting members in touch with key senators, pushing them to reject Alito.
Eleanor Levie, an NCJW leader in Pennsylvania, met with Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania), who chairs the Judiciary Committee. Specter assured Levie and others that he would raise the issue of reproductive rights and executive-power questions with Alito when hearings begin January 9.
"Specter's staff was very interested in the probing questions we want raised," Levie said.
The organization plans to reach out to other lawmakers, including Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut), a moderate Democrat and one of 14 moderates who likely will decide whether the nominee is filibustered. NCJW members planned last week to present the Connecticut offices of Lieberman and Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut) with a petition, asking them to oppose Alito.
The Reform movement also planned significant outreach to its members, asking them to call their senators.
"Part of our challenge is putting together for our people all the stuff that has come in in dribs and drabs over the past months," said Mark Pelavin, associate director of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism. "Every day there has been something in the press about Alito that has been of concern to our members and our activists."
Both groups believe Alito's nomination will get more attention than Roberts's hearings last year. The key reason, they say, is because Alito was nominated to fill the vacancy of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the court's most moderate voice.
Roberts's hearings also were overshadowed by Hurricane Katrina, which reached the Gulf Coast one week before the session commenced.
"I have a different feeling of where Democrats in the Senate are right now," Pelavin said, noting that several were gearing up for a "serious fight." Orthodox groups are also expressing their views on Alito. While not endorsing the nominee, the Orthodox Union sent a letter to Judiciary Committee members last week countering the view that Alito's position on the separation of church and state is outside the mainstream.
"When people say a record like his is outside the mainstream on religion-state issues, it's a distortion of the mainstream," said Nathan Diament, director of the OU's Institute for Public Affairs. "We are very encouraged by Alito's record." Diament also noted Alito has a "very vigilant understanding" of the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment, contrasting it with the view of Justice Antonin Scalia, who authored a much-maligned decision limiting an individual's right to religious expression.
Agudath Israel of America, which announced its support of Alito last month, plans to send a letter to senators as well, but hasn't planned an advocacy campaign.
"The course of events during the next two weeks might dictate that," said Rabbi David Zwiebel, the organization's executive vice president for government and public affairs.
The Conservative movement has not spoken out on Alito. The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism made headlines last year when it deemed Roberts qualified for office after evaluating his judicial record, which was a first for the movement. But the organization's Social Action and Public Policy Committee crafted a new charter last month that says the group won't routinely weigh in on nominees.
Lewis Grafman, USCJ's director of social action and public policy, said the committee hadn't yet met to discuss Alito.
Several major Jewish groups have chosen to keep to traditional their position of not endorsing presidential nominations.
But the American Jewish Committee and Anti-Defamation League are readying letters to the Senate Judiciary Committee with questions they want posed to Alito.
Jeff Sinensky, the American Jewish Committee's counsel, said the letter would mirror a letter sent to lawmakers last year on Roberts, focusing on concerns about reproductive rights and the separation of church and state.
The Anti-Defamation League's letter, obtained by JTA, questions Alito's support for student-initiated prayer in public school graduation ceremonies, and his position on key civil rights issues.
"As an appellate judge, Judge Alito dissented in several cases where people were found to have been discriminated against on the basis of race in employment," said the letter, signed by ADL President Barbara Balser and National Director Abraham Foxman. "Regarding discrimination based on gender and disability, Judge Alito's dissenting opinion in several cases would have made it considerably more difficult for victims of gender and/or disability discrimination to prove their cases."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1136361032426&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull